On a weekend without a game – even if this one was self-inflicted thanks to that appalling and embarrassing defeat at Coventry in the third round of the FA Cup – there’s time to take stock and reflect on the overall progress of Stoke’s season.

For the past decade there has always been plenty to ponder, but you could be forgiven for thinking that over the most recent three seasons the record had become somewhat stuck.

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Mark Hughes had done a fantastic job developing Tony Pulis’s squad and style of play into one of the most attractive in the Premier League outside the top six. And one which could take on anyone, particularly at the bet365 Stadium.

But all that began to change and as Stoke’s progress stalled, so Hughes became more introvert and the signings, such as Bojan and Arnautovic, that had been extremely successful in that first period became Berahino, Imbula and Wimmer… in other words, expensive flops.

Saido Berahino has struggled to make an impact at Stoke City. (Image: Catherine Ivill)

Crushing defeat in the League Cup semi-final on penalties at Anfield seemed to affect the players’ morale and Hughes couldn’t get them out of the whirlpool of negativity in which they found themselves.

This January all that has been set aside as a fresh beginning has seen the most unlikely turn of events. While Stoke fans were surprised when Paul Lambert was appointed as their new manager to replace the sacked Hughes, they weren’t anywhere near as shocked as Lambert himself.

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For our new manager thought his time in the English top flight had ended when he was dismissed from his post at Aston Villa. But when you lift the bonnet on Lambert’s spell at Villa Park you discover that the issues with which he was dealing were inevitably going to mean he was sacked.

No money to spend, a fire sale of major players such as Benteke and Delph, and an owner who just wanted to sell the club… Lambert’s goose was cooked through no fault of his own.

Stoke City manager Paul Lambert

In fact, given the spiral the club fell into when he left, which has only this season been stopped by Steve Bruce, you could argue that Lambert did an incredible job keeping Villa in the Premier League against all the odds.

And for any Stokies still of the opinion that our new manager doesn’t have the credentials for what promises to be mother of all relegation battles, that is comfort indeed.

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Lambert has made some early moves in his fortnight in charge, most notably sorting out the full-back positions – although to be fair Moritz Bauer was joining under Hughes anyway to plug the gaping hole we had left at right-back.

He has also appointed an interesting set of backroom staff. Steven Taylor has arrived from Rangers, where he’d been in post as a coach for all of a week. Taylor has worked with Lambert before at Wolves, while new first-team coach Kevin ‘Rooster’ Russell is, of course, a long term Stokie. Russell is an internal promotion, which probably shows Lambert has listened to those who knew the coaching set up within Stoke that remained after Hughes’s closest team left alongside him. A sound trait.

Lambert has also kept on goalkeeping coach Andy Quy, who is rated very highly by those in the know, but the most interesting appointment is first team fitness coach Jim Henry, a man who looks like a real-life Terminator.

Six foot four, as bald as a coot and menacing even when he smiles, Henry looks to be exactly the kind of person to drag our clearly unfit squad into shape.

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In the warm up before the Huddersfield home game he showed his mettle, and it looked like the players responded. Heaven knows fitness has been problem enough this season, and if Henry is able to push the players on perhaps we can pick up some vital points with late flurries in games, rather than finding ourselves hanging on for grim death while opponents swarm all over us.

Apparently the players have used his likeness to Richard O’Brien to christen Henry ‘Crystal Maze’, a small sign that respect and affection is still linked to the age old footballer’s sense of humour, another good sign.

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So this mid-term report finds itself being a lot more positive than it ever had a right to be. Stoke’s position might be of deep concern, but the current trajectory is upward – which it hasn’t been for at least two years.

Just the small matter of the team – both on the pitch and in the dugout – picking up enough points to avoid the drop, then. And that starts with what needs to be a barnstorming performance against Watford on Wednesday.